school quarter system

Following a recent survey, there will be no changes to the Whistler Secondary School timetable for the coming academic year.
Some students and parents had expressed dissatisfaction with the quarter system currently used by the older students. Grade 7 and 8 pupils use the linear system, the Grade 9 and 10 classes use a modified quarter system while Grade 11 and 12 use the ‘quartermester’. A timetable review committee comprised of students, parents and teachers was struck to conduct a review to ascertain the level of satisfaction with the current set-up.
Students, parents and staff were asked to comment on the system but the results of the survey have been deemed to be inconclusive and having no clear direction means nothing will change for the next school year.
The survey included an explanation of the three main timetable models — linear, semester and the quarter system. The "quartermester" was initially adopted by WSS under direction from the district while the linear system was put in place for the younger students.
Survey results showed Grade 7/8 response to be high overall satisfaction with the linear program, the Grade 9/10 group showed generally high satisfaction with the modified quarter but the Grade 11/12 group showed mixed response.
There was also some confusion over the survey wording and in order to obtain more conclusive results, the next step will be for the school to host information sessions for all stakeholders and a more in-depth evaluation process will be carried out over the next school year.